The Kulas: Kate

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Strings, parks and drones: Tanya's February Visit

Just like last year, Tanya gave me a wonderful birthday present by bringing herself - plus Nara, Harry, and Otto - down to visit us. I think our trip can be divided into about four themes:

1. Food

Mmm... best breadsticks ever! Thank you, Tanya!

Green beans, mashed potatoes, and farmer's market chicken.

2. Squeaking on stringed instruments in pajamas

This is the one group shot of the kids that we managed. Harry was playing hard to get. ;)

Harry, though he had previously been asking for a violin, fell completely in love with the massive cello we've been renting and had to play it just about every time he entered the living room. He loved to tell us his great discovery that "I'm really good at cello!" It was adorable.

Misha showing Harry the violin.

The bed-headed blonds.

So elegant!

3. Parks

Misha is now such a pro at the ripboard that he can even carry Harry.

Everyone on boards!

We often combined themes 2 and 3 by taking a mandolin or uke to the park - and sometimes, at Nara's pleading, a small violin as well.

Look at that grin.

Look at that concentration!

My tree-climber.

4. Drones

Though Josh had ordered his two mini drones without the intent of sharing with any children, he ended up generously allowing everyone to attempt to fly them. They're crazy little things that are far too easy to send crashing against the ceiling before bashing to the floor. Fun though!

Harry was screeching in absolute delight. Before this point, he hadn't mentioned ever returning to visit us. But once the drones were out, he was babbling away: "Maybe if we come back to Texas to visit, we can fly the drones again!"

Getting the tiny propellers stuck in hair is a hazard to watch out for ... For some reason, the little drones loved to crash into Nara and tangle up her poor whisps.

Otto, the cutie crawler.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Dreaming of a White Christmas

We made our Christmas spirit last a few weeks by spreading out our holiday activities. To get a bit of a white Christmas, we made a week-long trip to Colorado to see friends. And so, instead of opening all our presents on Christmas morning only to leave them all behind for a week before playing with them, we opened a few presents every day during the week leading up to Christmas. The last few, including the stockings and the amazing Ewok set from Tanya and Aaron, we saved for Christmas morning. Then everyone hopped into the car and we were off on another crazy road trip. And shortly after we returned, we were visited by Grandma Kate for more Christmas adventures.

Fun leading up to Christmas:

Sebby jumped in to continue our Chrismas countdown calendar. This year, I (wisely) developed an easier way to "open" doors. Much better than laboriously cutting cardboard doors with an exacto knife. These bulbs dangle from a string - the other sides have the dates. You can flip and unflip as you like!

Attempt at a family portrait.

I taught the boys finger-weaving, and almost immediately they began going through balls of expensive fuzzy yarn at an alarming rate. Then one day shortly after that, we found Misha with two chop sticks, sharpened in the pencil sharpener, studiously following along with knitting video on Youtube. Soon, he was making scarves for his teachers for holiday gifts. No kidding.

One of Misha's home-made scarves.

This was Misha's very first knitting project! It was for me. :)

A Christmas Eve elf. I love this picture.

Homemade origami ornaments. I love these. (The wonders of Youtube.)

Many of our early-open gifts were board games. Sebby fell in love with Pandemic, and now he's on a first-name basis with all kinds of world cities like Jakarta and Sao Paulo, not to mention Kinshasa and Chenai.

Cards for teachers

And snowflakes!

Yes, you can wear sweaters even in Texas.

One of Sebby's best gifts was a build-your-own tent kit. Since Sebby is constantly building tents out of anything he can find (boxes, blankets, pillows, furniture), we knew he'd love this mega set of life-size tinker toys. Heck, Josh and I love it too!

I love this picture for the inspiring story of brotherhood behind it. Misha and I had gone thrift-store shopping, and Misha picked an adorable kangaroo to give to Sebby. However, the Kangaroo was so alluring that Misha kept debating keeping the animal for himself. In the end, he wrapped it up for Sebby. Last summer, I had given Sebby my old Stitch toy (I had given Misha something else). Sebby could tell that Misha really wanted Stitch, and as Christmas approached, Sebby remembered this fact. Here they are opening their thoughtful gifts for each other!